Gearing up for the next crop year takes many days of planning, more than a few skinned knuckles earned while working on equipment and maybe a day or evening here and there to learn a few new tricks of the trade. Setting aside the second Monday in January for a trip to west central Ohio may help with the learning segment.

The West Ohio Agronomy Day annually provides well-known speakers who provide unique perspectives in a wide range of areas impacting profitable crop production. The Jan. 14, 2013 program brings two new faces to the WOAD audience as well as a couple of experts seen at several previous events.

For those of you who believe that the only good nematode is a dead nematode, listening to Dr. Terry Niblack, Ohio State University Extension nematologist, may provide a vastly different viewpoint.

Many Ohio farmers are well aware of the soybean cyst nematode, a pest known to hurt soybean yields in infested fields. In recent years, some promotional ads for corn pest control products have created a similar concern for corn nematodes. Dr. Niblack (new to Ohio in 2011) will tell those who attend that most native nematode species are beneficial, but that monoculture practices like corn back to corn is likely to boost parasitic nematode species, particularly on sandy soils. Soil sampling for nematode pests of corn or soybeans is essential to determine if control measures are needed. However, deep soil samples taken within the corn row at the V3 to V5 growth stage are necessary to develop an optimum control strategy for the corn parasites.

“Beans in the ‘teens” intensify the interest in maximizing soybean yields. Dr. Laura Lindsey, OSU Extension’s Soybean and Small Grain Specialist is sure to inform participants with her presentation, “Soybean Production: Using all of the Tools of the Trade.” Her recent arrival to the Ohio agronomic scene and her creative research has generated significant support from the Ohio Soybean Council and additional industry sources.

Why would crop producers want to listen to an employee of Potash Corp talk about the management of phosphorus and nitrogen management? Two reasons: Dr. Robert Mullen, was formerly OSU’s Soil Fertility Specialist and presently works for the world’s largest fertilizer company, which is a major supplier of N, P & K.

Purdue lends Dr. Fred Whitford to Ohio for the second year in a row; this year honing in on the importance of safe road transport of crop protection products and fertilizer in his presentation titled, “Keeping the Trailer Hitched to the Truck.” A related safety topic points to the potential cost associated with a product spill. Area fireman and safety trainer Bill Lehmkuhl will discuss the cost recovery aspects for HazMat incidents.

The West Ohio Agronomy Day is slated once again for St. Michael Hall, 33 Elm Street, Ft. Loramie, Ohio, with parking lot access from both State Routes 66 and 362. The daytime agenda begins with a 7:30 a.m. listening session with the Ohio Soybean Session who are offering breakfast.

The increasingly popular grain marketing session will be headed by Jerry Meyer from Cargill and John Leighty from Trupointe Cooperative. Private applicator pesticide recertification credits can be earned beginning at 9 a.m. The daytime program ends at 4 p.m. A somewhat condensed evening program begins at 5:30 p.m.

For more information, please contact Debbie Brown, Extension agriculture and natural resources educator, at brown.1522@osu.edu or 937-498-7239. Save $5 by signing up by Jan. 7.

Farmers who want to recertify their private pesticide license should go on line at http://pested.osu.edu

Forms can also be picked up at any Ohio Extension office, with the $35 payment accepted at the door.

Certified Crop Advisers can earn five CCA credits for $20, payable at the door.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Roger Bender may write to him in care of this publication.